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People's Inquiry -Second Report

Since the first report was published we have seen a deepening divide between London's Clinical Commissioning Groups and the hospitals, mental health and community health service trusts which deliver frontline services.
This report shows that while almost all CCGs are running surpluses, almost all of the hospital trusts, which have no voice on health spending, face rapidly growing deficits.
While almost every politician and NHS manager talks about "integrating health and social care", we can see that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 has further fragmented London's health services, sets organisations in conflict and competition with each other, leaving patients caught in the middle ...

Essential reading

NHS for SaleMyths, Lies and Deception

by Jacky Davis, John Lister and David Wrigley
In 2010 David Cameron's coalition government discarded pre-election promises about the NHS. Instead they imposed savage spending cuts and pushed through 'reforms' which put at risk the health and lives of all of us. As a result the NHS is now in crisis ...Further details here
Available at a special price directly from Keep Our NHS Public

The Impact of North West London A&E closures

Click image to enlarge
These figures from NW London campaigner Colin Standfield were among the hard-hitting evidence at our Peoples Inquiry +1 hearings on December 11 and 16.

BRIEFING by JOHN LISTER: London's cash squeeze - the stark divide between commissioners and Trusts: more details HERE

Watch out for much more in the coming year

The People's Inquiry +1

One year later, we’re back to see what has changed

The People's Inquiry into London's NHS, which published a substantial report London's NHS at the Crossroads in March of this year, after gathering written submissions and holding a series of well-attended public sessions, is back again to follow up.
For the first Inquiry seven public hearings and one closed session for staff were held during the autumn and early winter of 2013-14, and heard contributions from 95 people, including NHS commissioners, providers, hospital and primary care doctors and other NHS staff and their representative organisations, local politicians, academics, pensioners groups, campaigners and patients.
All of the details of the first Inquiry are available on this website. This follow-up Inquiry is again made possible by the generous sponsorship of Unite the union, which last time distinguished itself by its unselfish support, allowing the Panel to choose who to speak to, what to ask, and to shape our own recommendations.
An eventful year has now elapsed since that evidence was first gathered, and it is clear that on a number of fronts the situation we were exploring then has moved on.
For example there has been a substantial shift of attitude by all of the major parties to our first major recommendation: "Review the spending constraints that threaten the future of services".

We are inviting NHS and related organisations, trade unions, pensioners' groups, patient groups and campaigners to submit WRITTEN EVIDENCE to our new Inquiry by December 20.

There have also been important developments in government policy on mental health and its profile in the policies of all parties. And the financial and resource problems of delivering and sustaining GP services and primary care have repeatedly been in the headlines.
Our follow-up Inquiry will again be conducted with the same independent Panel, chaired by Roy Lilley (see details). Our researcher once again is Dr John Lister.
However to fit in with time and publication constraints we will streamline the process this time and hold only two evidence-gathering sessions in December, in which those giving evidence appear only before the Panel. Transcripts will be taken and published.We simply won't have time to fit in everyone who would like to speak to the panel, but we can open a general invitation to NHS and related organisations, trade unions, pensioners' groups, patient groups and campaigners to submit WRITTEN EVIDENCE, which will be made available to the Panel and (at your discretion) published on the website along with the second report. The website offers a facility to upload written submissions, which we would be happy to receive up to December 20. This will allow the panel time to take the information on board in shaping their conclusions.
We hope our report, to be published in early February, will help to put London's NHS, its strengths and weaknesses, firmly on the political agenda in advance of the unfolding pre-election period. We hope that by supplying us with your views and information you will help us to do this effectively.

Landmark report published

A landmark report on London's NHS has been published which highlights a cash strapped and fragmented health service – and proposes an 18-point plan to save the capital's NHS.

The report, London's NHS at the crossroads, outlines an unravelling of services as the NHS becomes more fragmented and financially squeezed. This is coupled with a management vacuum at the strategic level – with the public having no real voice in decisions that affect them.

WE WANT YOUR VIEWS AND COMMENTS

The People's Inquiry report, published in March 2014, has been well received: but we always intended this to be the start of a process of discussion and campaigning.
To do this effectively we want your comments, queries, updates and general feedback about the report as a whole, or any of the 18 recommendations.
The People's Inquiry Blog is still open, and we invite comments from all those wishing to defend and improve our NHS in London and across the country.